Rep. Zlotnik fires back at Republicans accusing him of campaign irregularities

Tuesday

Mar 5, 2013 at 1:00 PMMar 5, 2013 at 10:47 PM

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

State Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat, is disputing state GOP allegations that he may have broken campaign finance rules, saying the claims are baseless and come as “sour grapes” over his defeat of incumbent Republican Richard Bastien in November.

Officials of the state Republican Party on Monday filed a complaint with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance asking the agency to investigate a campaign finance report submitted by Mr. Zlotnik. It reported his use of $9,479 of his own funds to pay for campaign mailings last year.

Mr. Zlotnik confirmed he donated his own funds in that amount to his campaign, which is allowed by state law, and that the money came out of his own savings.

“I have worked and saved,” he said when asked how he came up with the money, adding that the GOP was slandering him and his parents by asserting that he got the funds elsewhere.

Mr. Zlotnik, 22, who graduated from college last summer, said he has been saving money “since the third grade” and that he decided to use most of his savings to pay for a campaign mailing last fall.

Republican officials said they have no knowledge of anyone else providing the funds to the candidate, but they speculated in a letter to campaign finance officials that his parents or someone else may have given him the money.

Nate Little, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party wrote in a letter to state campaign finance officials a GOP review of Mr. Zlotnik's public financial filings show that has not been working since 2009.

“Additionally, Mr. Zlotnik's parents have established a pattern of supporting Mr. Zlotnik financially and politically, giving the appearance that his parents supplied Mr. Zlotnik with the $9,479.00 in question,” Mr. Little wrote in the letter. Mr. Little provided no documentation to indicate the parents provided the funds.

The assertion that Mr. Zlotnik's parents have supported their son, stem in part from the fact that Mr. Zlotnik lives in the same house as his parents. Mr. Zlotnik has listed legally allowed donations to his campaign from his parents among others on his campaign finance reports.

Mr. Little claimed in the letter seeking an investigation that, “Because Mr. Zlotnik reported zero assets, zero income on his statement of financial interest, and reportedly held no paying position since 2009, it appears Mr. Zlotnik received the $9,479.00 from an ally in order to aid his campaign, thus exceeding the state's contribution limits,” Mr. Little claimed.

“It's entirely baseless,” Mr. Zlotnik said of the accusations. He believes the GOP is trying to take advantage of his young age in bringing the complaint. “It's solely about my age,” he said and plays on a stereotype that young people don't work and save.

He said he was frustrated by the attack on the veracity of his campaign reports, noting that he has only been a state representative for just over two months and he had to spend Monday answering questions from reporters about the Republican claims.

“They are trying to drag the election out into next year,” he said of the Republicans. Dragging his parents into the matter, he said, goes too far.

“That's the thing that bothers me most, the subtle accusation that my parents did something wrong,” Mr. Zlotnik said. “They are slandering me, and they are slandering my parents.”

Mr. Zlotnik said he has had many jobs through high school and college, including a four-year stint from 2005 to 2009 working as an electrician's assistant for Rayborn Electric Co. While attending college, he said, he worked as a legislative intern for former state Rep. Robert Rice, which paid a stipend. He worked as a legal intern for attorney Jennifer Pelavin during the summers of 2010 and 2011.